463 killed in road crashes across Bangladesh in June

Motorbikes are involved in nearly a third of all road accidents last month

A total of 463 people have been killed and 1,323 injured in 532 road crashes across Bangladesh in June, according to the monthly report of the Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity.

Motorcycles were involved in 172 crashes, or 32.33 percent of the total, leaving 173 people dead and 132 injured.

The organisation said in a press release on Tuesday that its Accident Monitoring Cell compiled the report from incidents published in national and regional news media.

Drivers accounted for the highest number of fatalities at 111.

The victims also included 71 pedestrians, 60 students, 47 children, 45 women, 11 transport workers, 10 teachers and nine political activists. Two police officers, one army member and one engineer were also among those killed.

The report also recorded 53 railway accidents that killed 45 people and injured eight, alongside five waterway accidents that left five dead and five injured.

Altogether, 590 road, rail and waterway accidents claimed 513 lives and injured 1,336 people in June.

Chattogram Division recorded the highest number of road crashes, with 128 accidents killing 126 people and injuring 373.

Mymensingh Division recorded the fewest, with 25 crashes and 26 deaths.

Head-on collisions made up 43.23 percent of road crashes, followed by vehicles hitting pedestrians at 27.63 percent, vehicles running off the road after losing control at 20.67 percent and other causes at 7.14 percent.

National highways accounted for 44.73 percent of the crashes, regional highways 28.38 percent and feeder roads 20.67 percent.

Another 4.13 percent occurred in Dhaka metropolitan area, 0.93 percent in Chattogram metropolitan area and 1.12 percent at railway crossings.

Data were available for 795 vehicles involved in the crashes.

Motorcycles accounted for 26.79 percent, followed by trucks, pickups, covered vans and lorries at 25.28 percent, buses at 17.35 percent, battery-powered rickshaws and easy bikes at 14.96 percent, cars, jeeps and microbuses at 6.16 percent, CNG-run auto-rickshaws at 5.28 percent, and Nasimon, Karimon, Mahindra vehicles, tractors and Lagunas at 4.15 percent.

The Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity also identified the causes behind the crashes and put forward recommendations to improve road safety.